Low power and Lossy Networks (LLNs), e.g., sensor networks, have a myriad of applications, such as Smart Grid and Smart Cities. Various challenges are presented with LLNs, such as lossy links, low bandwidth, battery operation, low memory and/or processing capability, etc. One example routing solution to LLN challenges is a protocol called Routing Protocol for LLNs or “RPL,” which is a distance vector routing protocol that builds a Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph (DODAG, or simply DAG) in addition to a set of features to bound the control traffic, support local (and slow) repair, etc. The RPL architecture provides a flexible method by which each node performs DODAG discovery, construction, and maintenance.
Further, shared-media communication networks, such as wireless and/or power-line communication (PLC) networks (a type of communication over power-lines), provide an enabling technology for networking communication and can be used, for example, in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) networks. However, due to the nature of shared-media communication, nodes must compete for transmission timing, and transmissions from different nodes, including neighboring nodes not along a chosen path between end-points of a traffic flow, may collide, rendering the transmission indecipherable by a node receiving the colliding transmissions. In particular, such collisions result in retransmissions (and possibly further collisions), extending the delay of associated with the traffic flow between the end-points.